The mantra that “sex sells” remains as true now as it ever did, but sometimes what sex is selling turns out not to be all that interesting. That appears to be the case with About Cherry, Stephen Elliott‘s flat-looking indie about a gorgeous 18-year-old who falls into the porn industry.

Ashley Hinshaw stars as said protagonist, who’s eager to escape a sad home life with an alcoholic mom (Lili Taylor) and an abusive stepdad (Stephen Wiig). She sees a way out when a rocker boyfriend (Jonny Weston) lures her into light porn, and before long she’s pursuing a more serious career under the guidance of star-turned-director Margaret (Heather Graham). Dev Patel and James Franco also star. Watch the trailer after the jump.

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Every once in a while porn comes back around to being a subject for mainstream cinema, and we’re edging towards that point again. Not quite ‘mainstream,’ perhaps, as both competing biopics about Linda Lovelace are indies, as is Cherry, which follows a young woman’s entry into the business.

Cherry premiered last week at the Berlin film festival to middling reviews. It stars Ashley Hinshaw (Chronicle) as a young woman who is slowly drawn into the skin trade, first by an enthusiastic boyfriend (Jonny Weston), then by an older lawyer (James Franco). The film also stars Heather Graham, Dev Patel and Lili Taylor, and is written by porn veteran Lorelei Lee. We don’t have any distribution info on Cherry at this point, but you can check out a trailer below. Read More »

Professional tough guys Val Kilmer and Ving Rhames, along with Luke Goss and Rebecca Da Costa, are set to star in the indie thriller Seven Below. Written by Kevin Carraway and Lawrence Smith and directed by Carraway, the film centers around:

…a group of strangers brought together when a terrible storm leaves them stranded in a house in the woods where a terrible event transpired exactly 100 years prior. The group seems trapped in a ghostly time warp, and history is repeating itself.”

I haven’t seen much by either Carraway or Smith, so I have no idea how the film will actually play out. But the concept, at least, sounds solid. Production for Seven Below is set to begin in Cincinnati next month. [Collider]

After the jump, new additions to What to Expect When You’re Expecting and Cherry.

Today’s second casting break — possibly the latest in a series, given the density of news on that front lately — has three pretty divergent stories. After the break, you’ll find info on the following trio:

Channing Tatum is attached to a thriller pitch called Blood Brothers.

Chelsea Handler grabs a role in the teen comedy Fun Size.

And the porn drama Cherry, in which James Franco plays a coke-addled lawyer, now has an actress to play the lead. Read More »

If you’d been feeling recently like there is a void in your life it might simply be that James Franco hasn’t announced a new project in a month. (Mid-April saw the announcement of The Stare, also potentially starring Winona Ryder.) So things should feel much better now that we can talk about Cherry, an indie drama set at least partially in the world of porn that now has James Franco set to appear alongside Heather Graham, Dev Patel and Lili Taylor. Read More »